Wholesale Price Index (WPI) Inflation measures the average change in the prices of goods at the wholesale stage — that is, prices charged by manufacturers and producers to bulk buyers, before retail mark-ups. The Office of the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, releases the WPI monthly.
WPI basket structure (2011-12 base):
- Primary articles: ~22.6% (food, non-food items, minerals)
- Fuel and Power: ~13.2%
- Manufactured Products: ~64.2%
Unlike CPI, WPI excludes services entirely — a major reason CPI and WPI can diverge significantly.
Example: WPI for Apr 2026 prints at 1.2% YoY while CPI for the same month prints at 4.8%. The gap reflects: services inflation (rents, education, healthcare) is much higher than goods inflation; food in CPI is more retail-skewed; commodity prices at wholesale have softened.
WPI vs CPI — when to use which:
- WPI is a leading indicator of input-cost pressure on corporates — useful for forecasting margin compression at FMCG and industrial firms.
- CPI measures the household cost of living; the RBI uses CPI for inflation targeting, not WPI.
- The persistent CPI-WPI gap is largely driven by services inflation that WPI misses.
Historical context: Before 2014 the RBI used WPI as its primary inflation gauge. Since the Urjit Patel committee recommendations and the 2016 Monetary Policy Framework Agreement, CPI took over.
Related: CPI Inflation, Repo Rate, Inflation-Indexed Bond.
Disclaimer: Educational content from MintByte (ARN-314872, MFD). For latest WPI data see eaindustry.nic.in. SEBI Investment Adviser registration is in process.